Man acquitted of domestic violence awarded compensation after 11-year court ordeal

A man acquitted of domestic violence in a case which took 11 years to be decided has been awarded compensation by the constitutional court.

Andrea Stellato was awarded €5,000 in moral damages by the First Hall Civil Court in its Constitutional jurisdiction for suffering undue delay in the deciding of an appeal which acquitted him of all charges, bar one.

In 2006, he had been charged with offences relating to domestic violence and was found guilty in 2011. He had appealed this sentence and after 11 years in court, in 2017, his original sentence was reduced from 18 months suspended for three years to a conditional discharge.

Stellato’s lawyers, Joe Giglio and Sarah Mifsud, had filed for Constitutional redress, arguing that his right to a fair hearing had been breached by the unreasonable amount of time that proceedings took.

In his judgment on the matter, Mr Justice Robert Mangion upheld the Constitutional complaint, emphasising that criminal proceedings should not take so long and stressing the moral damage that they cause to the person accused.

The court ordered the Attorney General to pay Stellato €5,000 in compensation.